How Iran Sanctions and a Currency Crash Triggered Mass Protests

A slow-burning economic crisis in Iran reached a tipping point in late December after a slump in the national currency to a record low made even basic goods unaffordable for much of the population.

Shopkeepers and merchants were among the first to react, taking to the streets of the capital Tehran to vent their frustration at a government they accused of mismanaging the economy. By early January, the unrest had grown into a nationwide revolt involving students, workers and other groups calling not just for an improvement in living standards but an end to the theocratic regime of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.